Welcome back to Speaking Seb. It has been since summer that I have written a blog article and really wanted to get my hands on writing something aside from academic research. With many months of studying and internships, I am now coming back with an article, one that I wanted to write to vent my frustration of the club I have supported as a boy. With the recent string of performances lately, I wanted to raise some important points right now and the future objectives that Arsenal FC could implement realistically to their set-up. In this article, I will be discussing the current crop of players, the most realistic potential transfer targets, best formations and tactics to employ and the burning question at the moment: Wenger In or Wenger Out? Hope you enjoy your read on my first ever football and match related article.

1) Current Crop

Here we are with a string of injuries from critical players. Will Arsenal even finish 4th this season? Better question should be: will Southampton hold onto their 4th spot? Our current set of players has a lot of youngsters and not enough experience to fully challenge for the title – the league table really does not lie. In this section, I explore who is the best option in each position with the options that we do have.

1a) Goalkeeper

From goalkeeper to attack, our team lacks Our makeshift goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is not the best backup just yet as he is still relatively unproven. Sczezsny is a great shot-stopper, but moments of stupidity is ridiculing us to progress and so Ospina should be the ideal candidate to take us onto the next few weeks. A potential goalkeeping option preferably.

Ospina, Sczescny, Martinez/new GK.

1b) Defence

As default, I wouldn’t change the wing-backs, I think the central defenders need to be assessed. Kos+Mert was a reliable combination a few seasons back, but age has caught up with the latter and would probably need to be slowly replaced. Mertesacker has scored some vital goals, but sometimes at Liverpool for example was ducking from Skrtel’s header. Koscielny is playing with a twisted Achilles heel. Surely we can target some defenders to ease the pressure. Varane? Howedes? Reid? Rudiger?

Bellerin of late has really improved as well and showed some toughness on the right – a decent replacement for Debuchy in a few years time.

Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Monreal, Bellerin.

Bellerin vs. Debuchy Stats (Chart 1 and 2)

[3,4]

As you may know, Debuchy picked up a shoulder injury from the Stoke game which would probably mean Chambers or Bellerin would need to step in. Before then, Debuchy picked up a few knocks here and here, having young Bellerin to deputise. I think you would agree here that with Debuchy’s experience, the average tackles and interceptions won as a right-wing back is understandably more than Bellerin. Moreover, I think Bellerin offers something a bit different, and despite his frame, can put in the tackles. Comparatively speaking, Debuchy loves getting the crosses in – and for me, since Sagna left, we haven’t been as using the option of crossing balls into the 6 yards box. According to ESPN, in the 2013-14 season, Sagna contributed to 4 assists in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. Certainly, to accommodate our new main man-of-the-moment Sanchez and key striker Giroud is difficult – who have varying style of scoring as to their height difference – as the former prefers to drive inside or outside to cut a shot into the bottom corner, whilst the latter gets on headers and crosses more. I feel if we can restart this trend on crossing into the box and making the opposition guess, that would make our offensive play more threatening. Currently, the goals have come from the middle or through the brilliant dribbles by the crafty players in our midfield and attack.

1c) Midfielders

Apart from the defence set-up, this is the area of concern that Arsenal have had. Do we play a 4-2-3-1 with one holding midfielder and one more attacking midfielder? Or a 4-3-3 with the penetration from the wings? I don’t think it’s so much of a problem of what we play to accommodate every single – because ultimately, no one will be fully satisfied, but we need to adapt to the team and play to our strengths. Far too often, we have seen a 4-1-4-1 formation at the start of the campaign with Ozil playing on the wings. There seriously needs to be sacrifice – Wenger has to think whether this is a game of loyalty or a matter of getting us to stick to our guns with some big players on the bench, with some rotation around.

So far in midfield, I feel like Coquelin, the Ox, Rosicky and Cazorla have been performing well of late – particularly as Sanchez has come in and spurred everyone on.

As for the defensive midfielder hunt – I think an extra experienced body is paramount to our success to the cups and even the 4th spot. Southampton have shown what a strong midfield duo of Wanyama and Schneiderlin can do to other top teams, and Koeman’s team is certainly no push-over. Below are some statistics to compare Arteta and Coquelin.

Arteta vs. Coquelin Stats (Chart 3 and 4)

[5, 6]

Having called Coquelin back, a lot of fans have been heaping praise on the young Frenchman. Indeed, his defensive record as shown in Chart 4 proves that. On average, Coquelin has 2.6 tackles and 2.2 interceptions – as to the 1.8 tackles and 1.1 interception per match Arteta offers. What Coquelin really offers is a larger and a bit taller frame despite his lack of experience as comapred to the Spaniard. I haven’t watched Coquelin enough to comment, but at 178cm as opposed to 176cm, plus 9 years Arteta’s junior, Coquelin has fresher legs to run after lost balls and redistribute it on the counter-attacking break.Certainly, what Arsenal truly needs is a Carvalho in Coquelin’s position against big teams, as he imposes more of a threat. Whether Wenger gets the Portuguese powerhouse is another matter.

1d) Attackers

Podolski left to Inter. Sanogo potentially to Bordeaux.

That realistically leaves us with Giroud after suspension, Campbell, Walcott, Welbeck and Sanchez. Which isn’t too bad I guess, but not exactly the title winning combination that you’d like to see. Wenger is seriously over-playing Sanchez even though he has defended his decision. On December 5th, Wenger has publicly stated:

“I think he played his 27th game since the start of the season on Wednesday, if you consider the international games and the travelling on top of that. Unfortunately, you never know how far you can push. We are not scientific enough to predict that completely, but he has great recovery potential. He recovers very quickly, and he is always very sharp and ready to play.” [2]

2) Transfers – striker vs. defensive midfielder/central defender

As an Arsenal fan, we were told that the club had £25 million pounds to spend, probably increasing as the funds increased into the new year. So where should we be spending it? Taking into account that Podolski has recently left the club for Inter Milan, a lot of people have said to spend it on a world-class striker – one of Edison Cavani’s calibre. For me, as much as he is a great striker (others have disagreed), the most important targets that we should be aiming for are central midfielder and defender. As it stands, the goalscoring options are always there – we are never really short of goals, we usually find a new person coming in to bang it into the net from defence, midfield to attack. And with Walcott, Welbeck and Giroud slowly returning to the team, does Wenger want to break his loyalty he has shown? This is a question we will discuss in section 4 of this article.

Everyone has been crying out for a defensive midfielder and central defender – one that could fill in the void Patrick Vieira left since he left over 10 years ago, and one that could replace the aging Mertesacker in defence. So far, we have only been talking about Legia Warsaw’s wonderkid, Loic Perrin and William Carvalho. Are they really the answer? As previous seasons have taught us, Wenger does not really enjoy spending money – and when he does, he usually does not find gems due to his knee-jerk reactions. Squillaci, Arshavin, Park, Chamakh, André Santos. What we need are world-class players, but the problem is do they realistically want to join a club sitting 5th (essentially just in Southampton and Manchester United’s shadow) in the BPL?

This is a perpetual question that many Arsenal fans having been asking since the bad string of form had hit us. Mind you though, this was no coincidence that we had drew or lost against Anderlecht, Swansea, Manchester City, Hull City, Southampton… Is it really only down to injuries alone? It seems like every year, come January or the Christmas break, Arsenal always seem to have an Achilles heel. And who is to blame for that – the management skills of Wenger or the board with Kroenke in charge?

Effectively, if Wenger were to leave now, Arsenal fans have to be ready to have a few years of reshuffling before we see our team challenging for the top honours – a sort of two steps forward, three steps back thing that Manchester United had to deal with following David Moyes’ spell at Old Trafford. The problem here would be that a lot of top players would not be as willing to play for the new manager (unless he was a great coach himself) and would leave us with less quality. Some people have raised the point of the management team with Kroenke in charge, and should instead allow Usmanov to implement his ideas into the Arsenal board. As much as I hate to say it, in the near future Wenger In, there needs to be a replacement to come in and gradually bring us back challenging for the top. All I can say is, we will have to wait and see. We are nearly half way through the season and hopefully Wenger brings in two defensive bodies (you know who they are). Till next time.

]]>https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/arsenal-what-now/feed/0sebr835The Expeditions of Admiral Zheng Hehttps://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/the-expeditions-of-admiral-zheng-he/
https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/the-expeditions-of-admiral-zheng-he/#respondSun, 06 Jul 2014 06:30:41 +0000http://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/the-expeditions-of-admiral-zheng-he/[1] A painting depicting the great Chinese Admiral, Zheng He.
Welcome back. It’s been a long time since I have last written an article on here, and I wanted to do something different again. This time, I wanted to explore medieval Chinese history and in particular, about the great Chinese Admiral called Zheng He (鄭和). The article is divided into five main sections – discussing about Zheng He’s profile, his expeditions, his impact during and after his voyages across the Asian, Indian and African shores. Finally, there will be some discussion of the nature of Zheng He’s voyages. I hope you enjoy this article, any constructive comments are more than welcome below!

1) Profile of Admiral Zheng He
We start this article by looking at National Geography documentary, ‘Chinese Treasure Fleet: Adventures of Zheng He Documentary’. This show stars Japanese-American photographer and Asian studies scholar, Michael Yamashita, who travels according to each of Zheng He routes to understand the true magnitude of the voyage. I highly recommend you watching it, as it is very enticing and stimulating – here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckdn18SAldg.

I am very interested in colonial history, so I thought it would be appropriate if I continued this article with something remarkable to consider. Normally, when you ask a person who was the pioneer of navigation to discover and create ripples around the world for more, the usual response would be Christopher Columbus, King Henry the Navigator of Portugal, or perhaps, the Vikings themselves for travelling the shores of what is modern-day Canada and the US. But I want to divert the focus of the Western colonial history and move towards a more Oriental approach and look at our main protagonist, Zheng He.

Zheng He, or originally named Ma He, deriving from the Chinese version of Mohammed under the influence of his Persian and Muslim roots, was born in A.D. 1371 in Jinning, near the modern region of Yunnan Province. [3] When the young Ma He was only 10 years old, his dad was killed in a key battle between the Yuan and Ming clans (fighting around the East coast of China). [3] Consequently, captured by the victorious Ming clan, little Ma He was sent to Beijing and was turned into a eunuch. Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, was the fourth son in line. Thus, many of the top eunuchs and officials refused to aid Zhu Di. This was significant, as this allowed Zheng He (as I shall call him hereafter), excelling in military studies and an imposing figure at what was believed to be 7 feet tall, came to the young emperor, Zhu Di’s aid, becoming closer and collaborate with many domestic and foreign policies. [3, 4] For example, this was shown when the both of them fought in the battle against the Mongol aggressors from the North. [3]

2) The Seven Expeditions of Zheng He

[2] A map showing all seven journeys Zheng He made during c. 1405-33.
Throughout approximately 28 years, Zheng He travelled to many countries, including those of:

There were seven main expeditions that Zheng He had travelled on. Instead of listing out and recounting the voyages and in what years did Zheng He visit the particular, I thought I would pick out Malacca, as one of the few key areas from this list and discuss the impact/foreign relations that was initiated by the Admiral himself. If you would like to find out more details expedition by expedition, then do check out link 5 and 6 in the references below.

2.1) Malacca
Malacca was one of the most important trading posts for the Chinese merchants. The Ming Emperor Yung-lo (1402-24) was initially very strict with the commercial activities externally, as he prohibited many private trading – feeling this would only augment the number of pirates across the South East Asian seas. [7] However, with the main document called the Yung-li Shih-lu (永樂實碌), was eventually convinced of the magnitude and profitability of the Malacca kingdom’s spice trade by South Indian Muslim merchants. As Chinese historian Wang Gungwu demonstrated in the Yung-li Shih-lu:

“The ancient rulers honoured mountains and rivers, determined the boundaries, conferred nobility and set up feudal states in order to show special favour to the distant peoples and demonstrate no one is left out”. [7]

Consequently, this was significant, as Malacca was one of the first areas for inscription and special recognition by the Emperor himself. He saw Malacca as a commercial hub, but a strategic one where China could expand its foreign relations within the 西洋 (literally Western Ocean) or Indian Ocean. [7] Thus, the increase of missions sent by the Emperor Yung-lo himself to various ports namely Java, Cochin (modern day Cambodia) and Siam (Thailand).

3) Impact – during his voyages
During Zheng He’s expeditions, it was a continuation of the advanced trading and shipbuilding skills that the Chinese had developed since the 8th century, way before the age of Christopher Columbus. Let us start with the ship technology first. [5] The treasure ships, as they came to be known, were a symbol of the advanced technologies in China. Many of these ships were 400 feet long, 16 feet wide, with nine masts and 12 sails, fixed with double hulls as watertight compartments. [5] Putting all these dimensions into perspective, the Chinese ship was 4 to 5 times bigger than Columbus’ starship, the Santa Maria.

The sheer size of these ships were a statement of intent by the Chinese Ming Emperor, showcasing the armada and Chinese glory to the world at large wherever they travelled to. This was one of the most effective technologies that the Chinese shipbuilders had, where they were could, using withstand leakage more readily. Consequently, less ships were lost this way and could continue efficiently navigating and trading.

Another important impact that Zheng He had during his voyages was the trading he initiated. As the Chinese were more commercial navigators rather than expansionist and colonial ones as the time of Columbus in the late 15th and 16th centuries, many luxury items were traded with many Muslim, Indian and African merchants across these travels.

4) Impact – after
Within the approximately 30 short golden years that Zheng He was commissioned to be the Chinese admiral, one main trait that remained was the Chinese diaspora and spread of Chinese culture into these lands themselves. [2] Today, there are major traces of Chinese population across Malaysia and Singapore and many festivals commemorating the Admiral himself as a god, primarily in Malaysia (Malacca), many islands scattering around Indonesia and other South Eastern countries still remain to this day.

5) Nature of Zheng He’s voyages – colonial or commercial?
Contrary to common belief that Zheng He’s expeditions were positive and commercial, one major question that can be raised when discussing Zheng He’s voyages, is to ask whether they were out of colonial or commercial reasons. Dr Geoff Wade, an Australian scholar and fellow researcher at the National University of Singapore, presented his argument that Zheng He’s expeditions. [8] For example, Wade used his “majority” thesis, arguing that Zheng He’s 300 to 400 ships were largely warships and that with around 28,000 military troops, the admiral’s incentives were in fact colonial and expansionist. [8] Conversely, other historians like Tan Ta Sen disagree with Wade’s thesis; demonstrating that Zheng He in fact had a variety of ships and that this military troops were in fact for self-defence against pirates like Chen Zuyi (later arrested and executed by the imperial Ming court), across the Indonesian shores of Palembang, guarding against valuable goods and products like jewellery, silk and porcelain. [8]

Effectively, during the time of Admiral Zheng He, the Chinese civilisation was technologically advanced with their shipbuilding skills and commercial activities with other countries. Many of these inventions like the double hull technology, greatly aided the Chinese fleet en masse to efficiently travel further. One of Zheng’s biggest remaining traits is the huge Chinese diaspora that has primarily expanded in the Malaysian Peninsula across Malaysia and Singapore. Elsewhere, his status as a great navigator and trader, has made him what has been perceived as a god-like figure in Malaysian and Indonesian festivals alike.

Furthermore, with such an overwhelming fleet, scholars like Dr Geoff Wade argued that Zheng He’s expeditions were out of colonial, expansionist and influential incentives rather than simply the commonly perceived positive, commercial ones. I will leave you to decide which one it was and you can discover more in Leo’s Suryadinata’s edited book, Admiral Zheng He and Southeast Asia in sources 7 and 8 below. Finally, I wanted to end this article by asking a few reflective and counter-factual questions (as food for thought) so that it stays more interesting when you finish reading. If the Chinese had continued with their expeditions:

1) Would Zheng He have met European travellers (the pioneers of that area – say the Portuguese and Spanish)? How would that have changed the Chinese Emperor’s incentives?
2) And if the Chinese had more colonial interests rather than commercial/peaceful ones, how much and how different would that have changed the hegemonic theatre we have today (leaving the obvious point of a perhaps Chinese dominated world)?
3) How far would globalisation be shaped in the Chinese way, in this case?

Hopefully, you enjoyed your read here. It’s been far too long since my last article. If you haven’t already, do check out my other articles on this site and see you soon around!

]]>https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/the-expeditions-of-admiral-zheng-he/feed/0sebr835Aberdeen Fiji Museum: Discovering the treasures – from one edge of the world to anotherhttps://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/aberdeen-fiji-museum-discovering-the-treasures-from-one-edge-of-the-world-to-another/
https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/aberdeen-fiji-museum-discovering-the-treasures-from-one-edge-of-the-world-to-another/#respondFri, 23 May 2014 16:39:04 +0000http://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/aberdeen-fiji-museum-discovering-the-treasures-from-one-edge-of-the-world-to-another/

[1] The King’s Museum at the University of Aberdeen campus.

Credit to my friend Dainius B. for co-writing this article.

Everyone has heard of Fiji. Paradise islands in the middle of the Pacific, sandy beaches and unending summer are the usual associations that come to our heads when we think of this country. However, every myth has a darker side to it. Just two centuries ago, Fiji was dominated by the warlike tribes that were fighting for domination and influence of the archipelago among themselves. Back then, European sailors were afraid of venturing into Fijian waters due to the dreadful name of Cannibal Isles that was given to Fiji. This name was earned for a reason – cannibalism was widely practiced among Fijian tribes. However, as Fiji underwent major changes during the 19th century, it chose to become a British colony. At first British declined opportunity to annex Fiji when proposal came in 1852, but political developments within the Fijian community led to another request to become a British subject in 1872 and this time it was granted.

The importance of Fiji as a British colony can be seen within the King Museum’s exhibition “Fiji, Scotland and the making of Empire”. It shows many remnants of colonialism that the Scottish, in particular, people from the North Eastern region, have contributed in the effort to control the Pacific Island. British colonialism, like other empires, exuded many notions of key trade links, this museum exhibits many artefacts that both the Western and Pacific Islanders. For example, the Europeans had brought whale skin, custom-made muskets (American as shown in the King’s Museum) and gunpowder to the Fijians, where, in return, had like the Chinese, had given key porcelain pieces. Amongst these were materials fabricated from whale ivory, cloth made out of mulberry trees, ciratabua or local Fijian armour produced from sperm-whale teeth.

Fiji was a valuable target not just for the British Empire, but also for the Unites States and Tongan Empire, which also tried to exert regional influence before the Europeans started dominating in that area. Another form of colonialism and imperialism that the British Empire had used was spread of ideology through religion and missionary activity. Certainly, as you may know, the Europeans and Westerners brought with them a sense of chauvinism, one that believed any foreigners were inferior, in the sense that they were not as civilised or educated from European customs. Thus, by installing the Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the son of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Arthur J.L. Gordon as his secretary and William MacGregor as medical officer, the Western style of administration was now in place. One of the first things that they had implemented was the eradication of any improper local customs. This was significant, as this meant that the British favoured the traditions of drinking the all-popular yaqona and the exchange of tabua or sperm-whale teeth, rather than the practise of cannibalism as aforementioned.

Overall, British rule in Fiji has often been described as being very lenient and one of the best example of “indirect rule”. While British administration ended tribal warfare and cannibalism, it also tried to protect natives from being exploited and offered Indians to come from the British Raj to Fiji to work (around 40% of modern Fijians are of Hindi descent). Also during the Great War Fijians were not mobilised for the war effort, this happened only during World War II, when Fijian strategic location was of great importance to the Pacific theater.Today, Fiji is very different from that scenario, which was seen by the Scotsmen who visited it during the 19th century. Since Fiji regained independence in 1970, the islands suffered four coups and to this day there remain significant tensions between Hindi-Fijians and native Fijians due to the differences in culture and religion. Nevertheless, despite these things Fiji still enchants every visitor with its beauty and rich traditions of its people. If you wish to hear the Pacific waves crashing on the beaches under the setting sun and hear the laughter of people from the edge of the world – you can visit the exhibition at Kings Museum until 23rd of April.

It has been a fun ride in Rome. I appreciate the fact that the ancient ruins are conserved to their purest possible forms as archaeological and historical artefacts, as well as blending into the Roman city itself. Keeping in mind that this was the centre of the Roman Empire for more than a millenia, the architecture always succeeds to showcase the truest, most grandiose forms of certain emperors and priests – more often than not, in superhuman scales. For example, you had the ancient ruins and area around the Colosseum, the Forums and the Piazzas overlooking the very panorama view of Rome herself.

Sometimes it would have been more helpful to have a Latin translator, but it was not that hard to figure out what the columns and inscriptions meant. Normally, at the top of the inscriptions, you had the name of the emperor or priest, his significance and year it was written. For example:

1) Clementis XII PONT MAX (The main priest)

Description

Anno MDCCLXIII (1763)

2) IVLIVS CAESARUS Imp Romanvs (Julius Caesar Roman Emperor)

Description

Annum … Ante Christum Natum or Anno Domini (B.C. or A.D.)

Apart from that, you could never escape the role of the Roman Catholic Church. The state was essentially the Church, and vice versa. We had a tour guide called Tibero, of whom explained a lot about the Palentine Hill and the Colosseum very poetically, using Latin, English and Italian interchangeably when needs be. But the main fact was that you had to visit the Vatican City as the real official representation of Catholicism, the way the Pope, the Sistine Chapel marry together in perhaps the biggest heart of the religion in the world. It was just ashame that we could not see the Pope himself that day, nor could we see any remaining evidences of the pagan religion (pre-Roman/Etruscan religions) lying around Rome. Even in museums, there was an accentuation on pottery and statues and I felt like there was a bit missing from the normally militaristic-perceived Rome. For me, as I agreed with Ho Fai, my travel buddy, this was a flaw that the Romans should pick up on – it seems like we only get one side of Roman history; the glory and the cheerful side, but the lack of the destruction and demise that came with under the Gothic tribes, the Germanic and Frankish invasions were surprising. Instead, there are more Roman military museums in across England than there are in Rome itself!

Conclusively, for me, my favourite historical attractions were tied between the Piazza del Popolo, Trevi Fountain and the Palentine Hill. The way you could see statues of Neptune on one side, and then Mercury on the parallel, showing the gods of the seas and war respectively, together with some of Renaissance Rome was truly breathtaking. The Trevi Fountain’s significance makes me like it more than it being a masterpiece. You get up close and personal with three statues. One is instantly reminded of the ingenious aqueduct systems that the Romans had used, apart from their expertise in other disciplines in law, mathematics and military sectors too. Finally, for the Palentine Hill, you could see the full Roman forum – what the Romans would have used for worship before it was burned by the invading troops across Europe.

2) Florence – 5th April to 8th April

The famous statue of David by Michelangelo standing outside the Palazzo Vecchio. This is one of the many replicas of the masterpiece.

We woke up particularly early this morning, eating breakfast before chilling until the early afternoon for Florence. Saw Ho Fai off – really wished he could have stayed longer – Florence was quite a change from ancient Rome. That day was a chilled day, the hostel was very near the famous Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore – the green architectural masterpiece during the Medici era. Instead, I simply went around town and stumbled upon a pizzeria/restaurant that cooks its pizzas in a wood-oven the traditional way, rather than your metal-cast ovens you get normally in more generic restaurants across the world.

Just a word on the food in general – I would recommend to go to the supermarkets and getting some Prosciutto Crudo and some cheese with some dried or fresh bread. The facaccia or the paninnis you get in Italy are usually reheated and normally lose taste. If you are really feeling it, go to the restaurants and get yourself a nicely baked pizza!

6th April – Museo di Palazzo Vecchio

The power of the Medici family – investing into the cultural and scientific blocks. Note their coat of arms with the cannon balls.

Today, I went around the Piazza Principale to check out the main museums in Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio. There were the usual crowds of people flocking to see the Uffizi, so I decided to take my chances with Vecchio. This was the main housing of Lorenzo di Medici, oftentimes known as the Magnificent himself, a wealthy and one of the sons of a dynasty of bankers. This family built and paid great Renaissance artists like Michelangello, Raphael, da Vinci, Boticelli, Donatello… to sculpt, ornate, paint their houses. Perhaps the most significant was the David of Michelangelo that are replicated all across Florence, but there is one outside of the Museum and tower.

Personally, toget your money’s worth, I would pay for the museum and tower – the museum section was enjoyable but small – and already 10 euros rather than 14 euros for both. Also, another word – the restaurants around the Catedrale di Santa Maria del Fuore should be avoided – they are usually ripped off – I had one around to try and it was reheated and mediocre at best. If anything, get past the bridges across Fiume Arno to find some proper restaurants – or avoid those restaurants aforementioned.

7th April – Museo di Leonardo da Vinci and Museo Galileo

Statue of Galileo Galilei near the Uffizi Museum and Palazzo Vecchio.

I wanted to leave the artistic side of Florence and explore more of the scientific aspects of it as well, particularly with two of the most famous natural scientists in da Vinci and Galileo. I always wanted to see da Vinci’s inventions in real life form or at least some type of replica – the famous Tank and human eagle was for me the highlight in the museum. Alright, the museum was admittedly small for 8 euros, but it was a refreshing experience to leave the crowds lining up daily for the the Catedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and Museo Uffizi. I was always interested in da Vinci’s inventions ever since a boy, and it felt great to see ones I repeatedly saw in books. Same can be said about the Museo Galileo – the fact that you could be more isolated, but you cannot escape the fact that both artists in their own disciplines were funded by the Medicis. Personally, in the Museo Galileo, the main highlight were the maps that the Arabs, Dutch, Germans, Italians and French cartographers and navigators were showcasing. What I found most interesting was the different ways to represent the World Map – sometimes you would have proper astronomical animals, Pangea (one huge mass of land religiously) or the actual representation which was advanced for its times.

8th April -Museo Bargello and Basilica di Santa Croce

Today was the last proper day in Florence or in Italy – the one tomorrow in Rome is more of a chill day and one to get ready for University again. I was slow to be up mentally and physically, particularly with the Catedrale di Santi Maria del Fuore’s bells ringing early on. he plan was simply to visit the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, and then check out some other cathedrals around. Everyone was usual had the Medicean legacy with its coats of arms or on the little explanation cards next to the statues or paintings you saw from the Quattrocento or Cinquecento – I would imagine them representing the short forms of saying the years throughout the 1400’s and 1500’s, two centuries within the Renaissance eras. After that, it was a simple pizza and beer stop at a tourist spot near the Bargello. I really do not want to leave the city of Florence and so I decided to take a walk around town – around the five bridges that criss-crossed the Fiume Arno. Passing by medieval castles, small boulevards where grandmas were taking care of the boys and girls, I felt Florence was much more local or communal in that sense, if you compared it to Rome.

Personally and overall, Rome and the Vatican City were more historical with its ancient architecture. You really cannot beat the overall history experience with the Italian and Roman Catholic capitals. Whereas, with Florence, adorned with its Renaissance architecture primarily funded by the incredibly wealthy Medici family, it was not as jaw-dropping or awe-inspiring, but for me, had more variety in its museums. After all, I came here for the history – it boasts museums consisting of elements like the arts, archaeology, astronomy, chemistry… In my opinion, I prefer Florence solely because I could relate more to the history itself – I was always fond of da Vinci and Galileo’s discoveries, rather than any antiquarian art or history that you would readily find in Rome.

9th April – Rome, chill and ready for university again

Nothing much today – took the train back to the capital from Florence, getting ready for university once again. It was a great trip for someone who loves history and something different, but adventurous at the same time. Another night of Champions League, after seeing Chelsea knock out Paris? So I went back to Florian’s, a nearby restaurant to watch the quarter-finals. I highly recommend this restaurant to those who live by the Termini train station in Rome – the staff are friendly enough and the food is decent. Last time I had pizza and something indulgent and to top it off, Atletico won. Just about. But a win is a win.

[1] For many years, having an education presumably enhances our chances to have a ‘future’ of some sort. But is that really true and absolute?

Ever since being a little boy, I have always wished for a magical injection of knowledge. It was one of those days I really did not feel like studying. I longed for one injection that once it infuses into your body, your brain instantaneously knows pretty much everything there is to the essay or maths question, to life even. One day, I had my dad saying that there would be no point of man surviving if knowledge as a phenomenon vanished. We will not be able to achieve and have the achievements. It, therefore, occurred to me, to finally try and dissect this question and let myself and hopefully yourself realise whether schools are really beneficial to our society or not. I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of providing students with schools, and how might we try and improve this situation with Finland and South Africa as both ends of the spectrum.

1) Advantage – importance of school in general

The most fundamental advantage of having a school is the concept to learn and to make friends. Everyone who applies to a school will readily feel that this will be a stepping stone to achieve a better future, as they are better qualified with some foundation skills of their favourite subject. By the word ‘learn’, this could also mean many different things. Certainly, the first type of learning would be the regular definition of grasping the knowledge and skills of the subject. The difference between someone who does and does not attend school, is the benefit of making connections – meeting new people and becoming more sociable. This is important, as learning facts and figures alone at home is definitely feasible, but oftentimes lonely and one-dimensional.

2) How knowledge is tested

This sense of learning leads us to our next point in the fact that we learn various skills. As aforementioned, learning facts and figures are definitely a possibility, but reciting knowledge independently can be frustrating. By going to school and having different skills tested, we can be more qualified. For example, we have humanities subjects like history, English literature, philosophy… and languages like French, Spanish, German… This is key, as these particular subjects can help us familiarise with foreign languages to become multi-linguistic or to have an analytical brain to digest copious amount of facts.

Moreover, there are calculations and experiments in the natural sciences of maths, chemistry, biology and physics to understand and test empirical data. By being assessed, we have more sense of organisational and presentation skills, essential for jobs to think quickly on our feet and to have better time-manangement skills to complete certain tasks. By now, I think you understand the direction I am coming from – school can lead us to become a better trained employee, or at least in theory. However, by testing us through the most common way of tests, are they really the most effective way to show our comprehension of a certain subject? Is memory enough to lead us through in life with a one-off occasion of saying 1+1=2 or that Hitler wanted to conquer Eastern Europe for more Lebensraum? Shouldn’t the most compulsory subjects of Maths and English (or the mother tongue) be assessed in a different way, so that students can understand the importance of them per se?

3) Disadvantages – school can only teach us so much

We have established the fact that school can lead us to become more skillful and learn more knowledge, ultimately to become a more reliable candidate in our dream job. However, to put it into perspective, there is only so much school can teach students of any age. I am trying to emphasise the practicality and pragmatic use of skills that will prepare us for life. The school curriculum most often allows students to learn from a course guide, but it rarely discusses concrete life survival skills. For example, how to manage our own bank account, how to get a proper job with compulsory interview classes (which is the ultimate goal of school – or at least should be) or even self-defence classes for the worst situations in those scary nights back home alone.

Furthermore, not everyone knows exactly what they want to achieve – whether they could already find a job placement or can really learn from books alone. In my own opinion, I believe in creating more opportunities for those who are not as suitable for books and find other ways to reach employment. It does not mean that one is smarter or less capable in anyway, it simply means to find job placements in possible firms to get a grasp of a general subject or to find another proper college for someone to become a chef or mason because they prefer something more hands-on.

4) How should schools around the world improve? Look at the best examples of the world

For this section, I thought I would use two countries at both ends of the spectrum for comparison – Finland and South Africa. Firstly, I picked out some important points that Scandinavian schools were commended for: 1) children should not attend school until they are seven years old, 2) there should be few exams/no homework, 3) all teachers must be fully qualified with a minimum of master’s degrees and 4) teachers are allowed to teach what they desire. [2] The main problem here is that a lot of schools around the world start at around age four or five. According to many reports, this sense of ‘the sooner, the better’ tends to equate to a denture in natural development of children, as this logically means that, as they are very energetic and playful, would not concentrate as well. Consequently, there will not be as positive results when it comes to simple tasks like reading or arithmetic skills early on. [3, 4]

Concerning South Africa, this is a country which lacks the amount of choices available among the students. They only have 4 main subjects – 2 languages, life orientation and maths. Moreover, under the guidance of not fully educated teachers, who are usually ill-equipped to teach properly to a certain level, means frequent failing of important exams. To put this into perspective, the majority of the students attending schools in South Africa failed their exams and to acquire the minimum 30 per cent passing benchmark. [5] To rectify this, the students should be able to choose their own subjects carefully and realise what they are stronger or weaker at. Obviously, we also have to consider the problem of level of (un)employment, corruption, international conflicts, post-colonial past and diseases that affect these country so gravely – particularly in the case of the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger, Afghanistan and Burkina Faso in that order. [6] As AIDS has been an ongoing problem in the African continent, many apt teachers deceased and were unable to continue. Should economic aid continue to be the most common way to try help ‘solve’ this issue? Little wonder that a lot of the brightest children leave for better futures elsewhere, leaving the area of expertise and intellectuals completely wide open.

Effectively, schools are beneficial to our society – but it is not necessarily the pathway to what we want to do in life. Personally, I think there should be an emphasis on the social aspect of it, rather than simply the academia. Sure, you could self-educate yourself, but it would probably be more pragmatic to attend schooling and have an equal opportunity. Moreover, many people accentuate too much on a proper education for future employment – when the problem of globalisation is already affecting the world to have increasingly more skills to accommodate to employers’ needs. Simply because we have a diploma demonstrating decent grades, do they grade reflect true knowledge? Or are we starting to regurgitate past facts? And then, why aren’t there more classes on survival skills – how to manage your bank account or self-defence in real-life situations?

Finally, I chose Finland and South Africa as the two main examples for comparison. Needless to say, the Western world already has the riches to provide its population with education for both sexes and to a minimum age. From Finland, other fellow Western countries can learn more about the age children should best start primary school so that they get the best possible quality teaching. However, South Africa, together with the rest of the African continent, have a harder task to alter – it is not simply a structural problem internally, but externally – with forces from the government and socio-political climate themselves. Hopefully, when I have the time – I will be back soon!

]]>https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/to-what-extent-are-schools-beneficial-to-our-society/feed/0sebr835FIFA: The new policies that should be implementedhttps://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/fifa-the-new-policies-that-should-be-implemented/
https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/fifa-the-new-policies-that-should-be-implemented/#respondWed, 29 Jan 2014 19:42:47 +0000http://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/fifa-the-new-policies-that-should-be-implemented/

[1] A simple, but powerful message that scars football. Will the internal and external problems ever be solved?

For the past 4 months, I have been really preoccupied with assignments and could not update my blog as frequently as I would have liked to. Hopefully, this short post would ease me back into a string of articles.

I wanted to use this article as a medium to voice my opinion about the current situation in world football. We all call football as the ‘beautiful game’ in one way or another, with the legends of Pele, Ronaldinho, Eusebio, Platini, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Charlton…still in our memory with their strong goalscoring pedigrees or silky skills. But when we look at the modern game, we can still pinpoint many issues at stake that need more attention. There are, in my opinion, four main problems that need to be resolved and this article will take this exact same structure: racism/political messages, refereeing, signings of players, the FIFA cadre team per se and the debate over the Brazil and Qatar World Cups.

In many countries, say Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Spain, the fans do not simply view football as a sport, but as a group identity. With this comes extremist ideals, one that sadly express many connotations of racism and fascism.For example, fans sometimes call out monkey chants at players with African origin like Balotelli, Eto’o, Constant and Boateng. [2] [3] [4] [5] There are some real-life footage of them deliberating leaving their respective matches to raise awareness in the references section below. This is detrimental to the modern game and disruptive to the whole notion of respect and equality that football tries to implement nowadays. It is not appropriate that any set of people or a group of players are fined a particular amount of money or a string of bans, able to be ‘excused’ easily and lightly. Effectively, some type of respectful policy should be undertaken so that fans and players alike need to show more respect, as the whole world – young and old are watching their every action.

Then, you have fascist or extreme-right political messages that players have exposed as a goal celebration. Di Canio, during his spell at Italian club Lazio, shot out his arm in a neo-Nazist salute. Di Canio has latched out and stated confidently that the gesture “was a Roman salute from a comrade to his comrades.” [6] Certainly, this does cause a stain on the ‘beautiful game’, but we should be careful with the limit and sensibility of our perspectives towards these players and their intentions as well. This is important, as recently Nicolas Anelka of West Bromwich Albion was heavily critcised on his ‘quenelle’ gesture. Many journalists and politicians have disgraced the veteran French international, branding his behaviour and actions as outrageous and unnecessary. [7] Shirt sponsors of the local team have even threatened to quit the contract over the incident. Morally, it is a powerful gesture, though, in Anelka’s defence, he did try to give a dedicating salute to his comedian friend, Dieudonné, and I really do not think it is as malicious as the press or the French sport minister, Foureynon, makes it out to be. [8] There has to be a limit of some sort, as these occasions could easily be misinterpreted. Let us see how the court case pans out in the coming weeks of February.

2) Refereeing

A second and next most important problem in football is the refereeing itself. There has been copious decisions that has turned tables, altering the course of play, in favour of the wrong team to win, draw or lose the match. If football is to improve as a sport overall, there should be more than simply replay decisions and goal-line technology – not simply the ones on the television or the ones that the FIFA board suggest in replica of rugby or tennis. [9] In my opinion, there should be more – the international football association should effectively inaugurate a first-person camera from the referee, as they are usually the one with the best view, yet often turn a blind or late eye to the situation at play. Never mind about the beauty of the debate over critical decisions – there should be more policies regarding pre-pressuring the refereeing in derby matches – say in Manchester City against Manchester United, Barcelona against Real Madrid, Arsenal against Tottenham, Juventus against AC Milan… Thus, by doing so, ultimately the level of correct decision-making and corruption could be minimsed more ably and fairly.

3) Signings of players

Thirdly, it is more about the way in which signings of players across different domestic leagues are conducted. Sure, there are increasingly more foreign investors across leagues able to flex their financial muscles in the transfer market periods. However, this is not about the economic aspect I wanted to discuss – if any league is going to benefit from competition and bringing the best out of each other, then they undoubtedly more teams have to be in contention to win the league. It is highly unfortunate that in Spain, Germany, Italy and France, there are only two to four main title contenders, whereas the rest of the league is struggling to hold on to their stellar players and are often named as ‘selling clubs’. This has been where FIFA have intervened, forcing clubs with a “6+5” home-grown players policy in a club in 2010. [10] Nevertheless, after the idea was rejected by the board, whether the home-grown players are actually used really is debatable. Again, there could be a limit to the amount of international players that a club can bring in at one go – perhaps 10 players maximum (depending on the emergency situation), and a certain budget spent. After all, it is rather worrying that football players’ prices are inflated to extremely high prices despite their worth not always proven – or perhaps there should be a criteria of what constitutes to make a player in the 50 million dollars/pounds/euros bracket.

4) Brazil/Qatar World Cup

Most recently, there have been issues regarding the World Cup in Brazil and Qatar respectively. On the one hand, the economic problems regarding Brazil is affecting the domestic satisfaction with a recent violent riot in Sao Paolo. [11] Understandably, the Brazilians have voiced out their opinions that the government were more concerned about the World Cup than the poverty and inequality occurring within the country itself. Conversely, Qatar is another problem in world football. Normally, a World Cup in any sport represents a international gathering – celebrating a vast number of cultures side by side. However, with a conservative society in this case, taking place in Qatar, only means a limitation to how liberal the local society views other sets of people in terms of how they behave or dress – especially when others should accept different racial, sexual and gender conditions of their counterparts. In my opinion, if these situations are to improve, then there must be more realistic venues of where the World Cups will be at. It is only fair that every country comes under the world’s spotlight, but it should be achievable as well. The Qatar World Cup of 2022 after Russia in 2018, only means that the fixtures calendar in domestic leagues have to be completely altered to suit the players’ performance during this period. Playing in winter for the better part of 2 to 3 months only equates to another 6 months of available time to play, leaving the players heavily drained from their international campaigns in the World Cup. [12]

Effectively, all the aforesaid problems that are to be improved by the FIFA are a matter of respect and justice – racially, arbitrarily and team-wise. If football is to improve as a sport per se, it must be able to accommodate every type of race and sexual orientation, inside and outside of the football pitch. Moreover, as a sport, there should be as many policies to eradicate any chances of corruption at the cadre, refereeing and player levels. Personally, I think that, refereeing as the most important phenomenon discussed, should be tackled immediately – it is only partially implemented as a problem and critical decisions are still wrongly judged. This is not a case of if and when, but a matter of pragmatically doing so that the sport benefits more, and retains its appellation and appreciation of being the ‘beautiful game’. This could change if the FIFA cadre team took another form, so that the seemingly conservative and often inefficient approach towards many situations became more modern, more realistic and liberal towards discussing problems. After all, like any sport, there should be more transparency over international board’s policies – rather than a black and white view that is always painted across the canvas nowadays. Right, I hope you enjoyed this post – I certainly needed it to get me back into the groove once again. Ta!

]]>https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/fifa-the-new-policies-that-should-be-implemented/feed/0sebr835How has the Chinese population changed the demographics in Asia?https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/how-has-the-chinese-population-changed-the-demographics-in-asia/
https://sebr835.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/how-has-the-chinese-population-changed-the-demographics-in-asia/#respondFri, 20 Sep 2013 08:12:38 +0000http://sebr835.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/how-has-the-chinese-population-changed-the-demographics-in-asia/
[1] The Chinese always had a migration to other Asian countries, but for what exact reasons?

Have you ever encountered a time when someone asked you where you were from, and they told you you were from a different country? For example, you would say you were from Shanghai, China and someone would mutter, Is that in Japan? Certainly, when you are not accustomed to a set of people you would mistaken them easily. Bringing this into context, how and why exactly do the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Malaysians and Singaporeans look so similar? In this article, I hope to explore the impetuses and effects of Chinese migration throughout Asia, namely countries like 1) Japan, 2) Vietnam, 3) Malaysia and Singapore.

1) Japan
[2] A map of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan.

One of the earliest migration of the Chinese people was to Japan. As Chinese legend has it, a sorcerer named Xu Fu was sent abroad by the stern Emperor Qing Shi Huang to Mount Fuji. Xu’s mission was to retrieve an elixir of life for His Majesty. [3] However, despite his efforts, the sorcerer was unable to find anything and was reluctant to return, as execution would await him. Eventually, Xu stayed in Japan and began a new wave of Chinese migration to Japan. [3]

The Ryukyuan Islands was believed to have remained undeveloped until around the 12th century. It was not until after many Chinese Civil Wars under the Chinese Emperor Taizu (1368-1398) that there was a change in the demographics of the Japanese island. [4] It has to be noted that the Taizu’s legacy, or indeed, the Ming Dynasty, was to rule for three centuries. Keeping in mind that China was deemed as the middle country or 中國 then, the powerful Chinese ruler called all barbarian states in the region to submit to China, prohibiting the free sea navigation and trade routes within the region. This was key, as according to Belgian historian Katrien Hendrickx, it could be seen as a civilising and diplomatic mission. [4]

In Okinawa, one of the main islands, it was divided into three main principalities – Hokuzan (北山), Chuzan (中山) and Nanzan (南山). [4] These would translate directly from Chinese or Japanese as North, Middle and South Mountain or constituencies. China’s diplomatic prestige in the South Seas were key, as Satto gave an oath of allegiance, offering gifts and in return, was offered the title of King of Chuzan, or the Middle Mountain region of the Okinawa Islands. Moreover, in 1392, the Ming Emperor had sent 36 families, as a symbol to imply many people for colonisation in the region. [4] These families were key, as they were to administer the Nahan border within the Ryukyuan Islands. Eventually, this opened the door for increasingly more seamen and merchants, who travelled to and fro, finding entrepreneurial routes between the islands and China. From then onwards, this developed a strong Chinese community, one that maintained their own modes of life, customs and dresses. [4]

2) Vietnam
[5] The highlighted region showing the Nanyue colony, comprising of south Chinese regions (Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan) and north Vietnam.

In 207 BCE, under the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, the southern Chinese regions of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, together with northern Vietnam was conquered and administered principally by himself. [6, 7] This was named, according to American academic Walker, Au-lac, signifying a pacified southern region. We have to be vigilant here though, as there were many names given to this region – for example Nanyue as well.

Vietnam was split into two main ethnic constituencies – Lac Viet and Au Viet. [7] This colony was to be a centre of refugees, convicts and officers of the Han Dynasty for a full 1,000 years, of which most were men. This was significant, as men married Viet local women, and their offspring became part of the local population. Throughout the Han rule, the Vietnamese rose up through Ngo Quyen in 939 A.D. and Nguyen Trai, as part of a political struggle to gain full sovereignty for their nation. [7] This was key, as until 1829, the Vietnamese people wanted to establish a distinct Vietnamese identity amongst the Ming-Huong or Sino-Vietnamese people. Moreover, they were allowed local political rights, and assimilate to their local culture, customs and etiquette, only if they did not return to China. [6]

3) Malaysia/Singapore
[8] Map of Malaysia and Singapore.

Malaysia and Singapore have been grouped as they were both common destinations for employment in the Asian continent by the Chinese. The Malaysian Peninsula’s demographics divided into the Chinese North, Indian West, and the Dutch East Indian or Indonesian South. Since the 14th century, there has been immigration to Temaisik or Old Singapore. [9] Eventually, the Chinese diaspora expanded to Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Under British, Portuguese and Dutch rule in each of these areas, compounded with the aftermath of the Great Depression in 1929 and the outbreak of World War Two in the Asian theatre (1941-1945), the Chinese travelled from their native Guangdong and Fukien provinces for employment, family visits and retirement purposes. [9] This was fundamental, as there were kheh thaws who were professional recruiters, and the sin khah who were the new recruits or contracters.

Under the Chinese Immigration and Alien Ordinances inaugurated in 1887 and 1933 respectively, this was to limit the outflow of Chinese male immigrants to the Malaysian Peninsula. However, this was key again, as the Indian community, being part of the British royal subjects were not affected. [8] This problem prolonged until the independence of Singapore in 1966 under Lee Kwan Yew and the People’s Action Party (PAP) for Chinese sovereignty over the other Indian and Malayan inhabitants.

The Chinese diaspora to various countries namely Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore were down to colonisation, imperialism and in search of employment. In Japan and Vietnam alike, we have seen two examples of how the Ming and Han Dynasties have sent merchants, civilians or armies to spread their sphere of influence within the region. In turn, these Sino-Japanese and Sino-Vietnamese families blended together as one distinct culture, both of which were free to practise their own type of religion and customs. With Malaysia and Singapore, there has not been as significant of a population exodus by the Chinese community until the aftermath and outbreak of the Great Depression and the Second World War, in search of employment, family visits and retirement. Similar to their early Sino-Japanese and Sino-Vietnamese counterparts in Okinawa and northern Vietnam, the Chinese migrants in Malaysia struggled to find their equality amongst the locals, which caused a lot of politico-social struggles, and the eventual Singaporean independence in 1965 by Lee Kwan Yew and the PAP.

In my personal opinion, I think that through many modes of colonisation and employment opportunities, the Chinese were able to achieve their own sphere of influence within the Asian continent. Obviously, when we speak of colonial powers, we tend to get winded up in the great maritime powers – Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and Holland. China can be regarded differently with their impetus of spreading their cultural and economical influences across others, so that trade can flow readily back to the mainland. This is key, as this could be applied to the modern globalised world, where China is an imperial power, in the sense of being an economic and imposing country on weaker and considerably poorer countries found in Africa, South America and Asia. That might be a pointer for how to understand the notion behind encouraging the diaspora of the Chinese communities abroad not only in Asia, but perhaps in another article, to other continents and countries like America, Europe and Canada. I do not want to be far-fetched in my article, but many questions arise from this and we, particularly, as the global audience, could question the effects of these mixed societies that the Chinese bring in abundance to their adopted countries.

Right that is it from me for now, as the university year is fast approaching. I really hope you have enjoyed all my reads so far, despite it being difficult to find a suitable and encapsulating enough of a topic to analyse. If there are any comments you like to say, do not forget to write them below. Thanks a lot and bye for now!

[1] Da Vinci’s flying machine was a testament to birds, a species that the genius himself studied to invent something to rule the skies.

This article I hope to answer a thesis that could help all readers learn something new. I am striving for that sort of feat, and I am reaching that moment when every article is difficult to reproduce the former’s quality. I have always been fascinated by inventions themselves, how it took the world by storm and revolutionised our way of life socially, politically or even militarily. I have divided this study into three main parts – one being the ancient, the Renaissance and the other being the early modern parts. Regarding the ancient sector and Renaissance, this analysis will incorporate the building blocks of aviation through ancient Greco-Roman experiments and designs by the Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci. I will continue with early modern inventors – the Montgolfier and Wright Brothers, known for contributing in the fabrication of the hot-air balloon and airplane inventions. Comments are appreciated.

1) Ancient Era – Chinese, Greeks and Romans

Many of the ancient attempts to rule the skies came down to countless experiments. Most people including me would see aviation derived from birds being pioneered by Leonardo da Vinci, but the Roman engineer, Archytas of Tarentum had constructed a wooden bird on a rotating rod, propelled by steam in circa 400 B.C. [2] Around 600 years later, the Chinese used kites as a way to perform religious ceremonies and to test weather conditions. [2, 3] Moreover, under the guidance of Greek scientist, Hero of Alexandria, invented the aeolipile. A container, a circle with two L-shaped tubes at either end, is filled with water and heated. [3] From this, the steam evaporates and rotates the whole container, essentially creating the very first engine model for flight engineering.

2) The Renaissance Era – Da Vinci and his passion for flight

During the mid-15th century, a young Da Vinci was intrigued by many ways to conquer the skies. Through much observation of birds and bats’ bone structures, coupling with human anatomy, condition during flight (wind direction, speed weather) and dissection of these animals, Da Vinci was able to create many inventions – including those of parachutes, helicopters, ornithopters (aircraft that is flown manually by flapping its wings rather than fixed wings that modern mechanic airplanes have), man-generated airplane and the human eagle, but to name a few [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. This was significant, as the Renaissance Man drew up many plans in his famous notebooks, portfolios and letters. Although it was believed that he was unsuccessful with his experiments, it can definitely be noted that Da Vinci was the pioneer of the aviation. It would take the world another 400 years to conquer the skies with Sir George Cayley and Lilienthal’s gliders in the 18th and 19th century respectively [7]. Unfortunately, however, according to Martin Kemp, a renowned art historian from Oxford University, has observed that despite Da Vinci’s appreciation for natural processes, he did not have extensive knowledge on dynamics and statics [8]. As a result, this hampered the chances for his works to succeed properly. I would highly recommend watching these modern replicas of Da Vinci’s works or design concepts on aviation machines: 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYmF7-JWCVA, 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iOcoIxlFzY and 3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj6kMZBrUq4.

3.1) Early Modern Era – Montgolfier Brothers- hot-air balloon

The Montgolfier Brothers, Joseph and Etienne observed that hot air rises, most notably as smoke carries unburned paper in the air. From this analogy, they began their first major experiment in November 1782, and filled small silk bags with rising smoke [2]. Little was known that around 80 years ago, in 1709, Bartolomeu Laurenco de Gusmao had already delighted the Portuguese royalty with his discovery. Under the guidance of Professor Charles in the Académie des Sciences in Paris, he had suggested to use hydrogen with the hot-air balloon [2]. This was significant, as hydrogen was extremely flammable particularly on silk fabrics. Consequently, with the Robert brothers – Marie-Noël and Jean-Robert, they had recommend to use silk covered with rubber to propel the hot-air balloon. This was proudly exhibited in the nobility areas around the Eiffel Tower [2]. Here is a reasonably long documentary clip about their invention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jPDAU4l-o.

3.2) Early Modern Era – Wright Brothers – airplanes

Wilbur and Orville Wright, two Americans of English descent from Ohio, were deeply inspired by German engineer Lilienthal, a developer in the glides. The Wright Brothers, armed with their talent, humility and passion for aeronautics, were in a quest to find adjustment of the wings to the right and left, enabling angles for the plane to fly properly. [9] Throughout their careers, like their predecessors, the Wright Brothers were very much in the case of trial and error, perfecting each of the inventions until it reached to a functioning point. For example, in 1903, they had made their own motor propeller with 12 horsepower units. This was significant, as the French historian, Charles Dolfus, observed in French, that they have changed the face of the earth. [9] Later in the year on December 17th 1903, they were recognised to have created an aircraft, the Flyer I, where it were to embark and set off by itself from the ground at 30 mph. Furthermore, in 1904, the Flyer II was fabricated and with 80 short flights, the Wright Brothers were able to practise controlling and manoeuvring the aircraft for around 45 minutes, as opposed to many their European counterparts for around 5 minutes. [9] However, unfortunately for Wilbur and Orville, their invention failed when the media wanted to showcase their invention. In the end, the Flyer II was burned, and works for a more sturdy craft in the Flyer III followed. Here is raw footage of the Wright Brothers in Le Mans, France, exhibiting their glider in public: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-CvkEUSAO4.

In summary, the ancient Romans, Chinese and Greeks were the starting blocks for aviation, recorded in history as some small-scale designs, namely the wooden bird, kite and the aeolipile, all contributed in future designs. It must be noted that the aviation process was a trial and error, a development that crossed centuries until the modern ages to perfect.

Firstly, Leonardo da Vinci, with his copious pamphlets, notebooks and extensive research, put forward many designs that were inspired by birds with the motion during flight, particularly that of the ornithopters. Unfortunately, these designs only worked in theory and on paper, it was not until around 400 years later that modern scientists, engineers and art historians began to collaborate to assess the liability of his inventions. Remaining in Europe, we have the Montgolfier Brothers, who were mistaken to be the first bunch to invent the hot-air balloon, as with the Portuguese, Bartolomeu Laurenco de Gusmao, who had already delighted the Portuguese royalty with his discovery. They must be accredited, however, to have joint efforts with Professor Charles and the Robert brothers to create a rubber-coated fabric so that the then newly-discovered gas of hydrogen could burn harmlessly and raise the aircraft into the skies. Finally, we have the Wright Brothers, whose gliders and aircrafts, called the Flyer I, II and III, inspired by the German engineer Lilienthal,enabled their machines to be the recognised as the first to go aloft for around 30 to 45 minutes. I hope you have enjoyed your read on here once again, and I shall return in the next edition soon enough, so stay tune for more!

[1] Across many cultures, we see different perceptions of how men and women should look like. These aesthetics have developed throughout time, due to different cultures and etiquettes within our society.

First of all, a quick apology to these who were expecting an article in the recent weeks. I have had trouble finding an interesting enough article to present to you, especially having written quite a lot now. I propose that, in the future, if there are any articles topic you personally like to read, feel free to pop a message below. In this edition, I will be discussing the evolution of how beauty and its aesthetics are perceived across many cultures around the globe in Africa, Asia and Europe. These will be mainly concerning those of females, but also secondarily, within those of men as well. As usual, comments are welcome below.

One fundamental concept we must consider is the word beauty’s true definition. According to Oxford Dictionary, it defines as a combination of qualities – shape, colour, form, aesthetic senses – especially by sight. [2] Over time, the common notion of beauty has altered, affected by self-perception and obsession, culture and society. The quest of beauty is a statement of material wealth, social status and sexual appeal. [3] This is significant, this alters throughout time, because in the ancient times, beauty was recognised through harmony and symmetry of women. Moreover, in the contemporary ages, beauty is far more superficial, in the sense that being thinner is more attractive in the fashion world. [3] As American physicists and authors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz pointed out, many celebrities are obsessed with cosmetic beauty, meaning we are obsessed with our appearance and weight. [4] On the flip side, Roizen and Oz both stress that there are other forms of beauty – how you feel about yourself and define your own life, rather than a general public affecting your opinion. [5] To elaborate on this point, it is perhaps right to suggest that, apart from the outer beauty, there has one’s self-perception of beauty comes down to mental health to be confident enough of one’s body. [5] Moreover, beauty can be seen as a more spiritual and internal beauty that can be seen through intelligence and personality, but this has been hindered throughout history as of women’s etiquette.

Women
1) Africa and Asia – Long necks
Likewise to the Ndebele tribe in South Africa, the Kayan people, with a population of 40,000 inhabitants within the Burmese and Thai region, use many long neck-rings as a way to expose their beauty. [6] The origin of this habit is anonymous, but it is believed that it would elongate the bearer’s neck. [6] Furthermore, this being a very particular habit is purposely designed to make the females more identifiable, marry within the same tribe, and thus maintaining a strong tribal identity. [6, 7] By doing so, it is believed that the females would keep these neck rings as a way to prevent them from being stolen, a status symbol as it looks like Mother Dragon She and compete in many beauty competitions for attraction. [6, 7]

2) European Women
Within the European culture, there are two main angles to observe women’s beauty – art history and society. On the one hand, we have the development of women in art history, a nude, symmetrical, harmonious, innocent figure that has been cast through mediums found in sculptures and paintings alike. [8] These were amplified throughout the Greco-Roman ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque and early modern paintings. However, throughout time, the notion of beauty had altered. For example, during the ancient and Renaissance times, women were presented in a purist and organic form, showing their attributes rather vividly. Conversely, with early modern paintings, we see women presented more covered up, but the idea of having a curvy and attractive body remained. [8]

If we shift our attention towards Western society, teenagers and adult women have a fetish of being slim and curvy due to popular culture. In my opinion, this is a two way street – we can either head towards a more traditionalist approach or a more superficial one. As a more traditionalist approach, during Mussolini’s time, women were in a much more fascist state, preparing for wars against African tribal and European enemies. As a result, under the inauguration of the Battle of Births policy, women were left to be seen as a more orthodox and plump figure, as they had to be fertile and motherly so that Italy could successfully build up a strong foundation for Italy’s future as an expansionist and aggressive power. [9, 10] Or we can take the more superficial approach, as women are now more aspired by many celebrities and perceptions of beauty. This is increasing the levels of plastic surgery, to achieve a big-breasted, slim and curvy appearance for attraction for the opposite sex. More importantly, people accept these customs as a type of adopted culture and succumb to their ways, rather than adopting a more internal beauty type of approach, which is a shame.

3) Men

[11] A Greco-Roman sculpture, one to showcase the masculinity, elegance and strength in throwing a discus scene.

As with men, they have a less prominent role in beauty, as their etiquette was always believed to be to do with intelligence, the arts, science, diplomats and military officers. However, if we take our attention back to the Greco-Roman times, many important men were deliberately enlarged and carved to be stronger, an almost Herculean figure. This was key, as this showed men able to quell threats of mythical creatures like lions and Minotaurs, as a way to show their brute strength and elegance. As of now, men are more appreciated to be tall and of a well-built stature. They do not have as much of an obsession or even necessity of participating in beauty as women, but cultures and society alters the way they look.

One very apt example would be men from Japan and Korea, who have a habit of being more feminine. Unlike their predecessors who dedicated their lives as samurai warriors and hard-working employees, a new brand of men nicknamed ojo-men or lady-like men, prefer to be herbivore and feminine. [12] With bad faith in the Japanese economy and some men plunging in unemployment, the men resort to a more personal approach and self-achievement, in an Enlightenment sort of way. [12] This is significant, as this is seen as unattractive by the women who want a more masochist and responsible type of partner. However, indeed, with the lack of sexual attraction, this has lowered the expectations and roles for both men and women in the Japanese society. Consequently, they live in a much more comfortable environment both inside and outside of the office domain. [12]

In effect, I have presented to you a few examples of beauty across the world, namely in Africa, Asia and Europe – both in the female and male domains. Depending in which historical age we are focusing on, the level of perception concerning women’s beauty alters through art and society. This is key, as women can be presented as harmonious, elegant and curvy figures, as a purist appreciation to their bodies like men. However, in modern times, as with society, beauty is more superficial, tending towards sexual attraction with a big-breasted and slim body. Certainly, these perceptions of beauty can be changed in the circumstances where women have different etiquettes and cultures, for example as having long-necks or motherly roles.

As for men, they have always been a more dominant figure in research, military and diplomacy, men always had a secondary role in beauty compared to women. It has to be noted that men’s bodies were also presented as a nude, masculine, brute and Herculean figure. These all show the true and ideal soldier and diplomat that the great civilisations found in the Greco-Roman cultures. Indeed, as time progressed to many important battles, men were recorded to be potent and imposing figures for their own countries. Men, like women, have their superficial outlooks to attract sexual attention as well with big pectorals and abdominal muscles. Interestingly enough, these masculine roles have changed as the ojo-men or lady-men in Japan have shown what unemployment, herbivore and a more laid-back approach can do to this type of popular culture and etiquette between men and women. As an ending note, and perhaps most fundamental yet, we must be careful as what we define by the noun beauty – whether we mean 1) a more internal, meaningful or a more external, superficial approach I have been trying to emphasise throughout this aticle. I really hope you enjoyed your read again, and I will return soon enough with another edition of Speaking Seb! Till then!

[1] A map showing the once great and ancient civilisations of the world – amongst them the Meso-American tribes in Central and South America, modern day Egypt, India and China

It has been some time since my last post and I do wish this article is worth the wait. In this edition, I will be discussing why the once great and ancient civilisations vanish from the world’s dominance and remembrance. In a world where a lot of things are occurring, amongst them being revolutions and pain-staking political transitions in countries looking into the future, I thought I would look explore the past and answer a question that has popped up in many family discussions. I dedicate this article to my sister, who has posed a very interesting question I wanted to set out and answer. Anyway, I will use a few countries from each region so that we get an overview about the topic itself – the Mayans in Central America, the Egyptians in Africa, Greece in Europe, India in Asia. Constructive comments are appreciated below.

1) Central America – Mayans

The Mayan civilisation dominated Central America for 1200 years, with 900 A.D. as their golden age. Their cities glimmered with 2,000 people per square mile, almost the entire size of Los Angeles County. [2] The Mayans’ demise came to a self-inflicted tragedy that came from the aftermath of deforestation. It was believed that the Mayans used an equivalent of 20 trees so that they could accumulate enough fuel to heat up limestone, an essential component to build many structures like temples and monuments. However, 20 trees only equated to 1 square metre of lime plaster. [2] This was significant, as deforestation was detrimental to the over atmosphere, despite its agricultural (forests were cleared to plant maize) and construction properties. This was signfiicant, as according to PhD student Robert Griffin, this increased temperatures to 3 to 5 degrees higher than normal, and 20 to 30 per cent less chance of rainfall. This was also key, as this dramatically increased droughts and therefore famines. As you will see in other civilisations, many of their falterings were down to self-inflicted, man-made reasons. [2]

2) Africa

2.1) Egyptians

One of the main reasons why Egypt is believed to have faltered is due to the demise and result of Pharaoh Pepy II’s long reign. After his 90 years of reign as a monarch, the whole Egyptian administration or Old Kingdom had altered drastically. [3] This was significant, as the administration became increasingly more decentralised, and thus more inclined to overthrow the monarchy. This was because the government had forbid the general public to practise key social and religious rights – namely, practise Islam and Christianity simultaneously. [3]

Another major reason why the Old Kingdom had vanished was down to the destruction that the River Nile brought with its flooding, due to climate changes. [3] It must be remembered that the Nile was and still is a source of income, commerce and trade for the Egyptians. Without it, this was significant, as this caused radical famine problems and brought key political institutions at a standstill. Consequently, there were many cases of cannibalism within the community and a less efficient way to control the people. [3]

3) Europe – Greece

Like the Roman Empire, the height of the Greek civilisation eventually took its toll as a superpower. Greece had many city-states that participated in many activities that favoured their own self-existence. Despite having united as one collective force to defeat the common enemy in Persia, greed, corruption and conflict was tragic and saw Greece falter as a civilisation. [4] This can be highlighted through the Peloponnesian War. This was significant, as it has to be noted that with the riches of the empire, Greece was able to accommodate great philosophers, artists, mathematicians to the world. [4] However, with such high achievements, Greece became too arrogant for their own good. This was important, as this meant that a lot of soldiers became mercenaries rather than being protectors of their land as part of their civic duties. Ultimately, they fought against each other, rather than for each other. [4]

Furthermore, since the death of Alexander the Great as a conqueror, the Greek Empire went down in decline. After the general’s death, the conquered regions were divided amongst Alexander’s generals. This was key, as this meant a lot of background conflict amongst themselves, disputing area for area. [4] Consequently, this ended as a civil war. On the one hand, the Ptolemy dynasty ruled in Alexandria in Egpyt, and on the other hand, the Seleucid dynasty ruled Persia, Mesopotamia and parts of Eurasia. However, with so many incentives to emigrate to these new lands, this prevented Greece from increasing in population and protecting herself properly. [4]

4) Asia – India

Let us move eastwards to India as an ancient civilisation. Certainly, you, as the reader, may disagree and contest my decision to have selected India especially when it is currently one of the more successful countries due to their potent textile industry found primarily in the Bengal region, that is still very much flourishing to this date. In the same light, one may also argue that China at one point, did disintegrate as a great civilisation and why it has not been included, having excelled in many arts, including literature, astronomy, inventions and mathematics.

However, I do think India gives a fine example of resurrecting a civilisation, despite struggling through various internal and external hiccups throughout the course of history. Personally, I feel it is more complex, and thus more interesting to discuss. For example, under Ashoka and the Mauryan dynasty, India was economically weak as they were conquered by a Greek faction state called Bactria. [5] Despite having been replaced by the Mauryan as the dominant dynasty, the Gupta’s were not as politically apt – in the sense that it was not a centralised governmental administration. This was significant, as this meant local politicians locked horns for their self-interests. [5] This was key, as this meant socially speaking, Hinduism and the caste system were favoured as a religion and form of social policy, favouring the elites particularly in the nobility or Nawabs.

This continued to the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese East India Companies, all competing to achieve alliances with the Nawabs, Confederacies and factions in exchange of trade and military training by these foreign powers. [6] This was significant, as this was an example of colonisation and imperialism by many countries – particularly through Orientalism and Anglicisation – which transformed the very social, political and economic climate of India, like a pendulum swinging to and fro in favour of traditional and Oriental, or modern and British methods.

Effectively, many of the ancient civilisations faltered due to many natural disasters and man-related reasons. In the case of the Mayans, the monumental effort to use as much wood taken from deforestation for construction building, meant that there were not enough trees to prevent any flood and in turn, increased the overall climate of the region and famines. Similarly, we have the Egyptians and the Old Kingdom, who collapsed mainly due to a decentralised government and the aftermath due to floodings from the River Nile, an important financial source for the country.

With natural disasters aside, Greece poses a man-related demise to the civilisation. After their golden years as an imperial power under Alexander the Great and their numerous artists, including Plato and Aristotle to name but a few, the generals became greedy amongst themselves for status and prestige, forcing the Peloponnesian War and factions within their ever-diminishing empire. Finally, we have the Indians, who faltered down to their bankruptcy and internal problems due to alteration and colonisation, brought up by the imperial powers and more importantly, through Orientalism and Anglicisation. Perhaps more importantly, these factors can definitely be considered by future leaders in their diplomacy-making, and hopefully be fundamental reminders on how to avoid further wars, conflicts and possible demise of the world. Right, I hope you enjoyed your read, and I shall join you next time on Speaking Seb – till then! Bye for now!